310 PLANTS, SEEDS, AND CURRENTS 



forces to which the bottle was exposed during its drift." Even in 

 this respect the field of inquiry is restricted, since it is chiefly littoral 

 and estuarine plants that are distributed by currents. 



2. The author at first refers to one of the most interesting of these 

 phenomena, namely, the drifting of bottles and wreckage round 

 the greater part of the globe before the westerly winds in relatively 

 high latitudes. However, since the easterly drift across the Southern 

 Ocean displays a continuous northerly slant, the circuit could not 

 be accomplished by the same bottle unless it started some distance 

 to the south of the Horn, that is, beyond the 60th parallel as from 

 the South Shetland Islands. Fuegian drift would be largely inter- 

 cepted by Australia, Tasmania, and the northern part of New Zealand ; 

 whilst the tailings that slipped past the North Cape would be thrown 

 back on the Queensland coasts through the westerly set of the 

 currents. Drift from the southern extreme of New Zealand would 

 be stranded on the shores of South Chile, and only drift from the 

 southernmost of the Antarctic islands would be likely to clear the 

 Horn. The uninterrupted circuit of the globe in these high latitudes 

 would take up rather over three years (pp. 294-6). 



3. The current-connections of the great land-masses of the south 

 are then separately dealt with, and Australia is first discussed. 

 Whilst from its tropical north-west shores it would distribute drift 

 across the Indian Ocean to the coasts of tropical East Africa and from 

 its extra-tropical western shores to Cape Colony, it would receive 

 along the whole length of its southern coasts drift from Fuegia and 

 the intervening islands of the Southern Ocean, as well as from South 

 Africa. From its south-eastern coasts it would supply materials 

 to the north end of New Zealand ; whilst on its middle-east and north- 

 east coasts would be stranded drift from the islands of the tropical 

 South Pacific and from equatorial South America. The only materials 

 it would receive from New Zealand would be derived from the vicinity 

 of the North Cape : through the westerly set of the currents between 

 that headland and Fiji they would be carried to the Queensland 

 coasts, and the same currents would effectively block the passage 

 of Australian drift across the Pacific (pp. 297-8). 



4. In the case of New Zealand a curious reciprocal relation is 

 noticed. Whilst its northern end would receive drift from Tasmania, 

 from the south coasts of Australia, and tailings from Fuegia and the 

 intervening islands of the Southern Ocean north of Kerguelen, its 

 southern end would distribute drift to South Chile. Drift from the 

 vicinity of the North Cape would be carried back to the coasts of 

 Queensland; whilst its south-west coasts would receive drift from 

 Kerguelen and the islands south of it, as well as from the distant 

 South Orkney and South Shetland Islands and from the shores of 

 the Antarctic continent adjacent to them (p. 299). 



5. South America is then dealt with. Whilst, as above explained, 

 it could receive nothing from Australia, there would be stranded on 

 its shores south of the 40th parallel drift from the south end of New 

 Zealand as well as from the islands in the higher latitudes to the 

 westward as named in the preceding paragraph. Drift from its 

 equatorial Pacific coasts would reach North-west Australia through 



